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Young (and occasionally less young) researchers, mostly from LMICs, present their views on global health issues.
“It is not enough to take a child out of the war. We need to take the war out of children”. This is how Ukrainian football legend Andriy Shevchenko addressed the need for more mental health support for refugees, in July. Mental health policies were never a priority for this group, sadly. The Latin American region and my own country Argentina...
The 58th World Health Assembly adopted a resolution in 2005 encouraging countries to transition into universal health coverage (UHC). That being said, when we think of universal health coverage, we envision increased access to good quality health care by all members of the population, void of financial burden. Ideally, therefore, comprehensive U...
If you followed the recently concluded AIDS 2022 Conference in Montreal, you will have heard several complaints about how, once again, visa issues forced many registered participants to miss out on a forum where decisions were to be made about a condition that disproportionately affects them in the first place, and their countries. This is not...
The United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 2 (SDG 2) is Zero Hunger by 2030. Sadly, the world is clearly not on track to achieve this goal. Even before the adverse effects of COVID-19 and the war in Ukraine, the number of undernourished people in the world was increasing, and millions of people were experiencing food insecurity. While Sub-S...
Last May, the 75th World Health Assembly closed on a positive note as member states reached the historic decision to increase their membership dues to constitute 50% of WHO’s core budget by the funding cycle 2030–2031—it is currently at 16%. This is a positive development that goes in the direction of sustainable financing for WHO that, in...
India’s ties with the African continent go back many centuries. Age-old maritime networks that developed in the Indian Ocean region, were further strengthened during the 19th and 20th centuries spurred by European colonialism. Afro-Asian economic and cultural cooperation came to the fore with the Bandung Conference held in April 1955 in Bandun...
In January 2022, global health stalwarts gathered in Bangkok for the annual Prince Mahidol Award Conference (PMAC). Against the backdrop of a frightening global economic crisis and ever-widening health inequities exacerbated by the protracted COVID-19 pandemic, PMAC 2022 was befittingly centered around the theme, “The World We Want: Actions To...
Before COVID-19 hit, Latin American and Caribbean (LAC) countries already displayed plenty of health inequalities rooted in the Social Determinants of Health (SDH), the conditions in the social environment – where people live, learn, work, and play – that affect health outcomes. Typically, this includes income, education, occupation, and social ...
When I come across a sentence like – hold your breath – this one, “achieving systemic transformation under the banner of climate justice requires that we deconstruct power relations and gender norms as colonial social constructs from an intersectional and community-based perspective”, I tend to grab an extra cup of coffee. How shall I “wa...